I had always considered those executed for witchcraft as innocent, and this extract made me question that view. However, I think I still hold it. I accept that the deliberate malicious practice of magic is probably undesirable. However, I think that the means by which culpability was determined were highly suspect: pricking their skin to find devil’s marks, or ducking people to see if they drowned. These methods are highly questionable and open to the interpretation of the accuser, who could easily bend any result into a confirmation of the accusation.

For me it seems too easy for a community suffering some misfortune (extreme weather, failed crops, an outbreak of illness) to blame it on that strange old lady who lives alone, keeps cats and mutters to herself. Obviously she has put a curse on us all: let’s burn her. I have no evidence how often events of this kind occurred, but I suspect that scapegoating activities were uncomfortably commonplace.